Chatter and memory flooded the Evergreen Cemetery Saturday morning as over 100 volunteers came together to honor Alachua County’s fallen heroes ahead of Veterans Day.
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, college and high school students, families and retired veterans took time to place small American flags beside the graves of local veterans. In addition to more than 1,100 flags, the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Gainesville provided maps of the cemetery and brushes to clean off gravestones.
Karen Russ, the 65-year-old cemetery coordinator at Evergreen, has helped run the flag-placing since 2018. Many of her relatives served in the military, inspiring her to organize the community event, which she said was “very personal” for her…